In honor of Earth Day today, I'd like to raise an issue that I keep hearing about. Water Bottles. Do you use the plastic ones that we're supposed to recycle and make polar fleece out of? Or are you a crunchy-granola-Nalgene carrying type? Or have you caught on to the latest trend - the aluminum Sigg? All have their merits and controversies, so I'll throw it out here for you to make your own call.
1 - The standard plastic water bottle. Now these have made some recent imprvovements, as Arrowhead is touting, their new
Eco-Shape that uses less plastic, but still holds the same amount of water. I actually like these since they have a narrower "wasit" making them easy to carry while running/hiking etc.
2 - Nalgene bottles - These used to be the eco-friendly choice for hikers and college students, but recent research has determined that a chemical (BPA) that seeps out of the plastic could be harmful, as discussed in this
NYT article. If you read the article closer, you'll see that you have to ingest A LOT of it, or be a baby, but still, who wants that in their bodies?
Nalgene does have their response posted on their site too, so you can decide what you want. Plus they now have a bottle that pairs with a Brita filter so you can be drinking even cleaner water. Do you think that filter filters out the bad stuff from the plastic bottle? Now there's a question.
3 - The Sigg - I haven't heard any negatives on these, but then again, I've never used on either, so I can't really comment. My concern is that it would be heavy. But water's heavy anyway, so maybe not. And they do have pretty cool graphics on them, so you can really show off
your personal style by your choice of water bottle. We always can use another outlet for personal style, right? Here are their
environmental justifications. And they do say you can put alcohol in them, but not to store it there since it might ferment and blow up. Not the exact words, but you get the idea...
4 - Glass - I don't think these are really intended for carrying around, but if you really crave that plastic water bottle shape, but want to be more eco-groovy, these
glass versions of the standard are just what you need on your dinner table.
5 - the good ol' drinking fountain - These seem to be much fewer and farther between these days with the advent of all these other water containers, but I think we should go back here. You only drink what you need, you don't have to clean them (someone else does...) you don't have to carry them, and they keep you on your toes since you never know if you're going to get water up your nose with a sudden burst from the fountain.
